• 1
    Step 1

    INTRO

    Do you know what is a time clock?

    Time clocks were mainly used at the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century as a way to monitor precisely the attendance of employees in big companies and factories. Back then, it was often a paper card that the employee would slip into a machine that pinched the right time box or print it. Its concept has, of course, evolved a lot since then and most models now integrate RF or biometric technologies.

    Those new machines are pretty expensive (at least $100) so we propose you to create your own fun time clock machine to monitor your employees (if you’re a CEO/HR) for less than $40 (again!) but which you can also adapt to any other use (monitor your pet's in and outs through its pet door for instance).

    FEATURES

    With this project, you will be able to create a time clock that can:

    • Detect motion when employee arrives
    • Snap them
    • Receive the snapshot via Slack
    • Record the time of arrival
    • Display how many employees have arrived

    This project is fun and easy to make (no need for special skills) and will let you discover a bit more about home automation and even refresh your knowledge of Excel!

  • 2
    Step 2

    Step 1: REQUIRED MATERIAL

    REQUIRED MATERIAL

    • Raspberry Pi 2, 3 ($20~$35) // for RPi 2, you will need a WiFi dongle
    • 16Gb SD card ($9)
    • 1 PIR module ($2) link + wires
    • An old webcam
    • A Google Drive account

    TOTAL: less than $40!

    The entire installation should take about an 1 hour.

  • 3
    Step 3

    Step 2: SET UP YOUR PROTA PI


    You first need to build the smart hub that will control the automation of your ring bell and connect all devices together. Prota OS for Raspberry Pi is our free smart hub OS which is very easy to install. In no time you will turn your Raspberry Pi into a smart home automation hub!

    You can download Prota OS here. Then burn it on the SD card.

    We made an easy guide you can follow to set up your Prota Pi.